Article: Serena Williams and the Game That Can’t Be Won (Yet)

By: Rebecca Traister

https://www.thecut.com/2018/09/serena-williams-us-open-referee-sexism.html

This article, written by Rebecca Traister, is a follow-up from the 2018 Women’s Tennis U.S. Open Final. With the summary of the events where Serena Williams was accused of cheating and expressed her rage toward the umpire, Traister also dives deeper into the interview with Williams after her unfair loss to Naomi Osaka. The largest fire in the controversy to what had happened is that a man would not have been treated the same way that Serena was treated by the umpire. Traister quotes William’s interview after the match in her article, “I’ve seen other men call other umpires several things, and I’m here fighting for women’s rights and for women’s equality … For me to say ‘thief’ and for him to take a game? … It was a sexist remark. He’s never took a game from a man because they said thief. For me, it blows my mind. But I’m going to continue to fight for women.”

This controversy hits home for me, being that I am a certified volleyball official for boys and girls volleyball. In my opinion, it is much easier to give sanctions out to the boys because they get aggressive much faster than the girls do. Girls will yell out of frustration or annoyance, but rarely do they threaten anyone with aggressive attitudes. Boys, on the other hand, I will never understand. I am always nervous that something is going to get out of control, and a boy will let their anger get the best of them. I’m not saying that I would treat boys and girls differently when it comes to sanctions, but I do take more precaution with men than women, because of my inability to know what they are going to do next. The umpire that was on the chair for Serena’s match was not worried about things getting out of his control, but he was worried that a woman was talking to him this way and making him look bad.

Article: Samantha Bee and the War on Words

By: Rebecca Traister

https://www.thecut.com/2018/05/samantha-bee-ivanka-trump-full-frontal.html

In this article, Traister responds to the event of Ivanka Trump posting a blissful picture, embracing her son. This picture was deemed very inappropriate due to the fact that it was posted during the news of ICE taking children from their parents, and was a very bold move according to comedian Samantha Bee. Bee ultimately ended up calling Ivanka a “feckless cunt” because of this post, and the Trump administration press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, was relished by the silence of the left side in lieu of this comment. Bee did apologize for her comment about Ivanka, but Traister proves that the conversation cuts deeper than what can be solved from an apology. In her writing, Traister states the phrase ” Language’s ability to inflict harm depends on the power of who’s wielding it and against whom it is being wielded… it’s not about considering the relative degrees of power of the entities and ideas that those individuals are representing.”

Traister argues for Bee’s actions, because she acts this way on behalf of less powerful people. I like to think of this as being a humble human being, and reminding myself that no matter how successful I dream to be, I must not abuse the power that I hold, nor should I forget that I am a human being, just like everyone else! As someone who grew up in a lower-middle class family, I can relate to the control that the upper class holds against others without even knowing it. I think the only hope to change this is just to treat others as human beings, and treat them as we would like to be treated